The conversation has been edited for clarity and length. "I want both America and Russian Federation to flourish!"

Almost 80 percent said they have been following news about Russia's alleged interference to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton since past year, a claim which 43 percent of people said was extremely or very likely to be true.

"I do not think he plans to watch it [Trump's inauguration] online, as it is quite a time-taking ceremony", the spokesman was quoted by Tass news agency as saying. They always had a standoffish approach, even at the height of the Cold War. Konstantin Rykov, an ex-pro-Putin lawmaker, said on social media that the event was in honor of the first phase of the "New World Order".

Donald Trump may now gush that Russian Federation is doing "great things," but as recently as 2014 he called the nation America's "biggest problem". "It highlights a significant degree of degradation of political elites in the West, including in the United States".

Why hasn't the reaction been stronger? "It was a group of opponents that got together - sick people - and they put that crap together".

Divisions among Republicans on Russian Federation policy result partly from the lenses through which Trump and the party's national security wing view the problem.

Obama added a more "constructive relationship" with Russian Federation would be a good goal, though.

Willi Tokarev, 82, a singer who emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1970s and later became a music legend in Russian Federation, topped the entertainment bill with his song Trumplissimo America! Russia's stock market was the best of the big four emerging markets past year, with the Market Vectors Russia (RSXJ) exchange traded fund rising almost 100%.

In an interview with The Times of London published Monday, Trump said he would like to seek a deal to lift sanctions on Russian Federation in return for a bilateral agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals, Reuters reported. The invasion of Crimea brought us back to a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan-like crisis.

"We expect a slow but steady revival of our relations", he said.

What's your outlook on relations under Trump?

The comments were made before Trump threw his hat into the ring to become the Republican pick for president. "I believe you can do it", he wrote in Russian. "We're talking about a different league of I don't know if it's street smarts or intelligence or whatever".

Other than sanctions, however, it was unclear what kind of action Trump was calling for. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said on January 8 that Russian Federation has done nothing to defeat the Islamic State in Syria. It's nearly a no-win situation, and I think that's one of the reasons Obama hasn't gotten involved. Between those two inaugurations, we in Europe have moved from a situation of hope and excitement to one of trepidation and scepticism. But a lot of that depends on Russian Federation itself. It can't imagine itself as a nation without being a great power, and great powers have great spheres of influence. Will you openly support President Putin in his re-election bid in 2018 as he did your election in 2016? "We indeed are the two biggest countries in the world".

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